


A Moment in Time

by cyanidas



Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, Time Travel, i wanted to include more people but i dont know anyone else that well so..., idk there's lots of drama, it's up to future me, kirin dave and ridgedog might show up tho??, older characters meet younger versions, science gone wrong
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 19:48:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9139684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyanidas/pseuds/cyanidas
Summary: Lalna manages to wreck his new time-travel-simulation machine and cause a world-wide rift in everyone's personal timelines, sending them back to when they were younger and unintentionally forcing them to face various buried memories.





	1. Chapter 1

“What are you working on this time?” Nano questioned her partner. “And why is it more important than sleeping and eating in a building with actual heating?”

 

Lalna, too busy working on the framework of his latest creation, goggles over his eyes as he was knelt down on the ground, didn’t respond. He was too far into his own work to hear what she was saying, mumbling what sounded like nonsense to others, to himself.

 

“Uhm, hello!? Control to Duncan!?” she whapped his shoulder blade, gaining a quietly startled jump from him, and put her hands on her hips, “I asked, what are you working on now!?”

 

“Oh, um…!” He put his tools down, adjusted his goggles to the top of his head, and turned around as he stood to face her, “It’s a time machine!”

 

“Why are you building a time machine?!” her face contorted into an expression of disbelief and concern, “I thought you told me that when your old company did that, everything went haywire…!?”

 

“Oh no, it’s better this time!” Lalna grinned and motioned towards the open controls, “Instead of actually taking you there, it treats it like a simulation and makes the past appear around you! Neat, huh?”

 

“Mmm, I’m still a bit wary about all this...” Nano did not seem impressed as she gave the hunk of metal a disdainful once-over. “Either way, you need to sleep for once. And eat a decent meal. Jaffa cakes will only get you so far, Duncan.”

 

“What, I’m still alive!”

 

“Barely! Here,” she pulled a bottle of water and a sack of cooked food from her knapsack, “eat something. Anything. As long as it’s food!”

 

“Alright, fine.” He grabbed the food and drink, “But I’m gonna keep working on this, alright?”

 

“Duncan you need sleep!”

 

“I’ll come up when I finish tweaking everything!”

 

“Ughhh...,” Nano growled and stomped her foot down, “Fine. But don’t come crying to me if a witch sneaks in here and you’re too groggy to fight back!” She turned on heel and marched out of the room and up the stairs.

 

“I’ll be up soon, don’t you worry!” Lalna waved her off, then turned back to his work. Just a few more things to get done, and then he can finally test out everything.

 

\--

 

It was now near dawn. Time does fly by on Minecraftia, but it was still time passed by, and the past few days were spent sleepless and near starving on Duncan’s part. His eyes were starting to betray him, closing when he didn’t tell them to, and his hands were getting more and more clumsy.

 

The scientist shook his head quickly and took off his goggles one last time, using the last of the water Nano gave him to splash in his face in an attempt to wake himself up. He patted his cheeks and set back to work. All that was left was to integrate the system that allowed temporal simulation to be in effect, as without it, it would just be a regular time machine. Who knows what would happen if he input the system incorrectly?

 

Well, his sleep-deprived mind apparently didn’t take on the severity of the task, and his eyes drooped once more. Lalna drifted into an exhausted sleep, causing his still-soaking-wet forehead to fall forward into the circuitry.

 

The electric shock woke him right up. It threw him back onto the floor, and he quickly propped himself onto his elbows to witness the damage occur in front of him.

 

Small sparks shot across the circuit board, becoming more and more frequent and large at an alarmingly quick pace. Bits and pieces of metal scrap were ejected as the machine whirred and internally combusted. There was a small moment of silence before a blinding white bomb-like light exploded out of the machine, causing it to fall apart.

 

The light itself had no effect on its surroundings as it phased through all objects and surfaces in its way. When it passed through Lalna, he felt a shiver of burning heat and below freezing, which faded as quickly as it washed over him. However, it didn’t end there; his heart rate sped up, a beat faster than the last one. His body started to glow white, causing him to hop to his feet and rush upstairs to see if Nano had been affected.

  
Before he reached the top of the stairs, time slowed him to a halt as sparks of energy flicked around him. His heartbeat was going faster than he thought possible for his body, and in a flash of light, he disappeared, leaving nothing behind.


	2. Chapter 2

Lalna ungracefully landed face-first into the grassy ground, falling from a small height from just above. He shook his head of dirt as he slowly pulled himself up, and looked around. The area was a bright sunny plains, just by the woods. The sky was a brilliant blue, with light winds and big, puffy clouds. Birds all around made joyful noises and sheep could be heard in the distance. Everything seemed calm and serene, unlike how tense his base’s area was. He couldn’t help but shake the feeling he had seen this before.

 

Steadily rising to his feet, he felt something lumpy in his labcoat pocket. Grabbing it, he realized it was the semi-broken remains of the simulation device he was about to attach to his machine. The number screen on its side had various glitches in it, but one number was visible; five. He made a confused, focused face before stuffing it back into his pocket. Right now he had to figure out where he was.

 

Something, his instincts perhaps, told him to walk towards the woods. It was as if he was being called to them, like he had gotten lost in a neighborhood and something was drawing him to take a specific street to find his way back home. Maybe he had just gotten teleported a ways away from his base? Lalna took a few uneasy steps forwards, in the direction of the trees, and eventually strode forward more confidently.

 

Weaving through the trees, Lalna happened upon a faint path in the grass, implying someone - most likely smaller - had already been through here. He decided to follow, feeling as if the end would hold his answers. At some point, a big slate blue house with a dull red roof and dusty windows. The scientist stopped in his tracks, taking in the view of the house. Was this…? No, there was no way...He hadn’t seen a house like this in years! Why would it be here? Surely it would have been torn down by now?

 

Just around the corner, he heard a very small voice humming to some old tune. Lalna hesitated, but followed along the building’s walls towards its source. He soon got to peek his head around the corner, and was met with an all-too-familiar creaky front porch. There sat a small round boy, hunched over something he was pulling apart, with wildly fluffy blonde hair. Inching closer to him, Lalna could see that his feet were incredibly dirty, as was the oversized white jacket he had on.

 

The boy kept on humming and staring at the contraption in his tiny hands as Lalna made his way towards him as quietly as possible. He was able to make it all the way to the front of the house before he finally stopped his song. The little kid looked through his messy hair up at him, only one of his eyes being visible. He stopped what he was doing altogether, both him and Lalna too shocked to really move.

 

“..H...Hi…,” he shied down, “Wh-Who are you…?”

 

“...I-I um...I...H-Hello...! Um...” He stuttered, nervously looking around him and fidgeting with his gloves.

 

“Are you a scientist?”

 

“Uh--W-Why yes! Yes, I ah...ahaha...I am! Hello!” He tried not to let it show how nervous he was.

 

“Really!?” From what little he could see of the boy’s face, he was obviously very interested, “Really really!?”

 

“Y-Yes...! I um...I am. I really am. Ahaha...” Lalna rubbed the back of his neck, trying to give a sincere and totally-not-anxious smile.

 

“That’s so cool!!” he put the small contraption and little tool down beside him and stood up, turning towards the screen door behind him, “Mummy!! There’s a scientist man out here!!”

 

“Ah!! Wait hold on I--!” Lalna jolted, but stopped when a voice called back.

 

“Lalna, sweetie, I’m busy! Is this another one of your imaginary friends?” An older woman sounded from a room closeby inside the house.

 

His mouth immediately shut in surprise as his younger self went on.

 

“No I’m serious!”

 

“...Really?” There was a few shuffling noises before the lady arrived and opened the screen door. She was of average size, her long frizzy strawberry blonde hair in a stained bandanna, and she wore fairly dirty overalls with a torn lacy shirt, and muddy workboots. From the looks of her, younger Lalna, and the state of the house, it was clear that money wasn’t an easy thing to come by.

 

“Oh...” there were a few seconds of silent staring before she gave a friendly smile, patting the small boy on his head, “Well, I didn’t expect a guest! What brings you here?”

 

The scientist didn’t know what to say. He’d nearly forgotten her. His shoulders drooped and he froze. How did this happen? Would she recognize him? He realized he hadn’t replied to her in an uncomfortable amount of time for most people.

 

“Oh, um! H-Hello...ma’am...Um. I-I was just wandering around when I saw your lovely...house...and didn’t...expect anyone to be here...But, your...y-your boy here, he greeted me, and--”

 

“Now that was lovely of you, Lalna!” She grinned, smoothing back his hair from his face. He giggled back at her, messing with his fingers. Duncan noticed he had been doing the same and quickly dropped the action, shoving his hands into his coat pockets. His mother continued, “My name is Laveda. Are you at all hungry? You could join us for supper!”

 

“Well…,” Lalna realized he hadn’t even touched the food Nano gave him. He suddenly felt close to starving, as if the weight of his hunger had finally hit him. “Um, sure…! I’d love to. Thank you so much...”

 

“Of course. What’s your name, sir?”

 

“It’s, uh...L...It’s-It’s--um...Duncan...um...yeah.” Hopefully the nickname Nano gave wasn’t too suspicious-sounding.

 

“Duncan, huh? Are you from Earth?”

 

“Y--uh...no...No I’m from...here.” Technically he wasn’t lying.

 

“I see! You come from a long way?”

 

“Yes...Very, very long way.” He tried to appear positive once again.

 

“I see. Perhaps I can help you locate your base again!” Laveda grinned.

 

He didn’t know what to say in response, so he just smiled at the ground before she continued.

 

“Well, best get inside. I think it’s about to rain.” She moved a bit out of the way and opened the door further for her son, “Go on, Lalna.” He happily complied, grabbing the now-broken trinket he was messing with and running back inside, waving to the newcomer.

 

“Come on,” she motioned for Duncan to come forward, “Lets get you inside.”

 

His heart had been skipping beats every moment she started speaking, but now it was going fast once again. He hadn’t seen his old house in more than 20 years, and now that he was somehow sent back to see his mother and himself from all those years ago, it was like living in a ghost town. None of this should still be standing, and yet here it was, here they were, here  _ he _ was. He sighed to himself, smiled for her, and walked forward.

 

\--

 

“I apologize for the lack of available food, Duncan…” Laveda called to the dinner table from the kitchen, where she was cooking up slices of beef, “Livestock has been short, lately...”

 

“No, it’s alright!” He glanced at the little boy fidgeting next to him, “I completely understand.”

 

Once dinner was prepared, she walked in with a serving platter that had two bowls of soup and two plates of steak, setting one of each in front of the two at the table.

 

“Thank you, but…where is your meal?” The scientist looked up at her, a bit worried.

 

“Oh, it’s alright, Duncan.” She smiled and sat down, “Crops will be in tomorrow, so I’ll be able to eat then.”

 

He tried not to look more saddened than he already was, and politely handed her back the steak, “Please don’t sacrifice yourself for me. I’m still learning that food is essential. No one should forget that.”

 

“Oh…,” she seemed a bit surprised and took back the plate, “Are you sure?”

 

“I’m only a guest, after all…” He smiled and looked down at the bowl of soup.

 

“...I understand.” She gave a light smile back, “Thank you.”

 

The two of them set to eating, after the young Lalna already had done so. After a while of quiet munching, Laveda spoke up again.

 

“So, Duncan.” She paused from eating and wiped her mouth on a cloth from her pocket, “You’re a scientist, are you?”

 

“Yes, actually…,” he also stopped eating to talk.

 

“Do you work for the government, then?”

 

“Um...No, actually, I...I work for a...private business…,” He didn’t want to go too into detail about his work history, considering he wasn’t technically a humane scientist, and Yoglabs hadn’t even been created yet.

 

“Really? Are they nearby?”

 

“Well, they, um...They’re near my base…? Um...so...far. Pretty far.”

 

“Oh, who’s your boss?”

 

“Um, well...He’s um…,” he had to think of what to say here, considering he had forgotten how people from this time period were about non-humans, “I don’t talk to him.”

 

“Sounds spooky...” the younger version of himself piped up.

 

“Aha...It’s not too bad.” He laughed it off, folding his hands on the table.

 

There was a few more moments of silence.

 

“So, um…,” Duncan spoke up, “Do you have anyone else here?”

 

“Anyone else?” Laveda asked.

 

“Yeah like, like another...family member?”

 

“Oh, well…,” She sighed, leaning on her elbows on the table surface, growing a bit more quiet as she stared off in another corner of the room, “I do have a husband. He’s a miner, usually goes around exploring cave systems and whatnot. If it weren’t for my farm then he’d be the only source of income, since he gets to keep about 25% of whatever he mines.”

 

“Ah…,” Duncan took a few more bites of his soup and avoided eye-contact.

 

“...Haven’t seen him in a few weeks, actually.” She slid her plate of remainders over to her young son, “He doesn’t come by much nowadays. I mean, it’s probably got to do with his bosses, but…,” she sighed, “I dunno.”

 

The scientist stopped eating and put his hands in his lap. Maybe this is why he doesn’t really remember his parents? An uneasy atmosphere washed over the room. He probably shouldn’t have brought this up.

 

“What sort of things have you made?” The younger version of him started talking, “I bet you make loads of cool stuff!”

 

“Aha, yeah, I do…,” His smile returned, “Well, I just recently built a...a sort of simulation machine.”

 

“Oooh, what’s it do??”

 

“It lets you...um...relive old memories.”

 

“That sounds really neat...”

 

“...Yeah. It is.”

 

“Can I see it?”

 

“Uhh…,” He internally scrambled to think of something to say. He didn’t even know if it existed. Suddenly he wondered how he was going to get back, and if his partner was alright. “Y-yeah…’Course. I don’t see why not.”

 

“Sweet!!”

 

He might regret making that promise.

  
Duncan really hoped Nano was alright.


End file.
